baby girl name, need your thoughts

[Anonymous]

I like Adina and Saori. Sereya and Syra sound like "Syria" to me, which invokes all sorts of mid-east politics. Zadie is the Yiddish word for grandpa.

[Anonymous]

Sereya sounds like ciriasis or cerosis to me,

[Anonymous]

Adina makes me think Jewish/modern Israeli. I don't particularly care for the other names on your list (sorry, you asked).

[Anonymous]

I love Adina - sounds very universal and yet like it belongs to a particular heritage.

[Anonymous]

Alani!!

[Anonymous]

Alani - pretty
Srya - too hard for Americans to pronounce
Amani - Armani
Adina - nah
Saya - how is this pronounced? "Sah-yuh" or "Say-uh"?
Saida - pretty, but may have the "no, it's not Sadie" problems
Seraya - pretty (though usually I see "Soraya")
Saori - how is this pronounced? Americans will probably say "sorry"
Maelys - looks a little grandma-ish
Amaris - reminds me of amaryllis
Zadie - I like this but agree she will always be explaining that it's not "Sadie"
Neva - reminds me of nevus (a kind of birthmark)

OP, are these names French, Indian, or what? Are you trying to go for a name that seems both Indian and French, or what's the goal there? I love the name Solange (not that you asked for other nominations! ) I'm in a half-Indian mixed-couple and we were trying to pick an Indian name. We had to turn every candidate-name around in all kinds of ways to see how Americans would pronounce it, what kinds of desirable/undesirable nicknames would likely come out of it, what English words it sounded like (your tampon comment cracked me up), and what the Indian meaning of the name was. It's not easy but it's kind of fun. Good luck and let us know the final decision!

[Anonymous]

OP here. No we are not trying for French or Indian names particularly. Our kid is going to be in a cultural melting pot anyway, so a little bit more or a little bit less. I just gave that context so that people focus on the name not whether they heard it before or not.

These feedbacks are SO useful: for instance so many of you refer to the name Sadie which I have never heard of before while I have heard Zadie before (Zadie Smith).

[Anonymous]

What about Sadie? It is an American name, close to Zadie, but easier to spell and remember. Also, Sadie is not very common but a pretty name.

[Anonymous]

They are all beautiful names. I think Arabic names have a nice melodic ring to them. I would be careful with spellings though as I've gone through life with having my name misspelled and mispronounced. I have a French name.

[Anonymous]

isla

[Anonymous]

Despite being in a melting pot area with lots of Koreans we gave our children more mainstream names and Korean Middle names. We gave them uncommon names that are both easy to spell and pronounce. The Korean grandparents call them by their Korean names and everyone else calls them their English names.

[Anonymous]

All too weird. Sorry. (But I'm from Nebraska.)

[Anonymous]

I like Seraya and Alani the most
Hate Srya

[Anonymous]

How do you pronounce Syra? If it's pronounced seer-ah, I think people are going to confuse it with Sarah - constantly. And if it's pronounced sigh-rah, I would spell it Saira. I knew someone with that name and thought it was pretty.

Also think Saori is confusing - is it pronounced "sari"? because that sounds the same as "sorry" which is not something I'd name my child. That "ao" combination is not easy for English speakers - does it make an "ow" sound, or are they distinct, so it's pronounced say-or-ee? I think it looks pretty in writing, but I have no idea how to pronounce it and I think it will be garbled every time someone reads it.

I don't like Seraya but I do like the name Surya (not on your list but there was a french olympic figure skater with that name).

[Anonymous]

Zadie, as in the novelist Zadie Smith. I also like Alani.